Sealing ring for use in gas holders of disk type



Feb. 13, 1934. s. VON HANFFSTENGEL 1,946,512

SEALING RING FOR USE IN GAS HOLDERS 0F DISK TYPE I Filed April 2, 1932 IN VENTOR EOAG 1/. //A FFSTEA/GEL BY .4 TTORNE Y Patented Feb. 13, 1934 UNITED STATES SEALING RING FOR USE IN GAS HOLDERS OF DISK TYPE Georg von Hanifstengel, Nuremberg, Germany Application April 2, 1932, Serial No. 602,840, and in Germany April 4, 1931 3 Claims. (Cl. 48176) This invention relates in general to gasholders of the disk type in which a sealing ring is located between the shell of the gasholder and the disk thereof. More precisely. the invention relates to said ring, and the invention consists in inserting the ring into its place between the disk and the shell with a certain preliminary or initial or pretension. that is to say, an inherent tension or tension of its own. The intention is to enable the said ring to follow all irregularities or inaccuracies of the shell or. more precisely, of the inner surface thereof which contacts with the tightening ring, that is to say, contacts continuously with said ring at its entire circumference while the ring 5 is being moved upwardly and downwardly together with, and by, the disk.

The sealing ring is normally subjected to the action of weights or equivalent means which act radially outwards so as to tend to expand the ring,

but it has been found that the pressure exerted by the weights or the like is not sufiicient to enable the tightening ring to follow under all circumstances and with perfect reliability the unavoidable inaccuracies and irregularities of the shell. small as they may be. In other words: the ring lacks the capability of accommodating itself to the existing irregularities and inaccuracies, but this drawback has now been overcome by the present invention. according to which, as has already 'been stated. the ring is inserted into the shell with a certain pro-tension imparted to it by an appropriate determination of its diameter, i. e. its outer diameter relatively to the inner diameter .of the shell.

3 In other words: the sealing ring is to be capable of an elastic expansion. the magnitude of which is given partly by the ratio between the just stated diameters. partly and mainly, however, by

the modulus of elasticity of the metal, of which 4 the ring consists. To give an example, I mention that a tightening ring consisting of the so-called Durana metal which is an alloy containing copper as chief component and the modulus of elasticity of which amounts to 10540 kg per 1 mm shows an expansion possibility of 1/10540 of its length per 1 kg of tensile stress intensity per 1 mm of the sectional area of the ring. Assuming a shell with a circumference of 150 m and admitting a maximum tension of 10 kg (which is reckoned very cautiously and does not require too heavy loads for the devices carrying the weights and other members requisite for exerting upon the ring the pressure tending to expand it), the

expansion will be If this expansion possibility should not be sufficient in certain individual cases, this drawback 6 can be remedied by the present invention, that is to say, by making use of a tightening ring having a certain initial or preliminary or pre-tension when it has been inserted into its proper place, while the members concerned (shell, disk, ring) have been assembled and mounted. The importance of that pre-tension will become clear fromthe following:

The ring, the length of which is 150,000 mm has this length when it is not subjected to tension, or is tensionless respectively. Assuming a tensile stress intensity of 10 kg/mm its length will be 150,142 mm. If now, according to this invention, that ring is inserted into the shell with such a pretension, that is to say, is so much or so strongly compressed that it has the prescribed length of 150,000 mm at a compressive strain of 5 kg/mm its length, when it is tensionless, will be 150,000 plus it being understood that by its expansion by 71 mm the pre-tension has been compensated. The ring is now able to expand by further 142 mm until the tensile stress intensity amounts to 10 kg/mm as before, viz up to 150,223 mm, that is 50% more than without the employment of the present invention.

My invention is diagrammatically illustrated by Way of example on the accompanying drawing in which Fig. 1 is a partial vertical section through the gasometer wall and the associated sealing disk; and

Fig. 2 is a horizontal section showing the manner in which the sealing ring of larger external diameter than the internal diameter of the gasometer is forced against the gasometer wall and simultaneously placed under compression along its length.

The gasometer shell is indicated at a, the same being reinforced in well-known manner by the vertical posts I), of which a suitable number are arranged about the shell. A closure disk 0 is arranged inside of the shell and serves as the upper closure therefor. An integral vertical ring surrounds the edge at of the disk 0 and is attached to said edge by means of a gas-proof, flexible connection or strip 6 composed of textile material, leather or other suitable material. The ring 1 may be provided with a felt or other packing, and in order to insure a more nearly perfect seal, the annular trough 9 between the disk 0 and the wall a is filled with a sealing liquid, such as oil, which, because of its lubricating action, serves at the same time to reduce the resistance to the movement of the disk as described in my copending application Serial No. 329,059.

The ring f, and also its packing, if the latter is used, is pressed toward the interior face of the gasometer wall by means of a large number of weighted levers h which are arranged upon the disk 0 along the circumference of the latter, the levers being acted upon by weights 2', only one of such levers being shown in Fig. 1.

As described in my above mentioned application, the ring 1, in order to enable it to conform readily to all irregularities of the inner surface of the shell of the gasometer, is made of uniform cross section and uniform strength of material throughout and is therefore capable of uniform expansion and contraction under the influence of the pressure exerted outwardly there-against by the weighted levers and to such an extent as to fit closely, or to cause the packing ring associated therewith to fit closely, against the entire wall of the container at all positions of the ring.

In accordance with the invention, the ring 7 is made of such size that its peripheral length is greater than the normal peripheral length of the inner surface of the gasoineter wall so that when the ring is put in place within the gasometer, it will initially bulge inwardly as shown in Fig. 2. Upon the application of the weighted levers, however, the ring will be forced into contact with the gasometer wall throughout its whole eriphery and the bulged portion will take the position in dotted lines Fig. 2, the ring being at the same time placed under compression along its entire length to an extent depending upon the difference in length between such ring and the inner periphery of the gasometer shell. The radial pressure exerted by the weights is indicated diagrammatically by the arrows in Fig. 2. It will be understood that the excess of length of the ring over the inner periphery of the gasometer shell is not so great as to produce a permanent set or other injury in the ring; in other words, the stresses set up in thering should be within the elastic limit of such ring.

The loading of the ring can also be efiected,

in place of the levers and weights, by means of liquid or air pressure or other suitable means, such as springs, without in any way departing from the principle of the invention. The ring itself is composed of strips of sheet metal which are so joined in a circumferential direction by welding, riveting or otherwise, that a completely uniform ring, having the above described properties, is produced. The ring may be composed of any suitable metal, such as iron, copper or aluminum.

I claim:

1. In a gasholder of the disk type, the combination with the shell and closure disk thereof, of a closed, integral, metallic sealing ring located between said disk and said shell and connected with the disk so as to be able to yield radially, the outer diameter of the ring being normally greater than the internal diameter of the shell, so that said ring is under an initial circumferential compression when it is inserted within the shell.

2. In a gasholder of the disk type, the combination with the shell and the closure disk thereof, of a closed, integral metallic sealing ring located between said disk and said shell, the outer diameter of the ring being normally greater than the internal diameter of the shell, so that said ring is under an initial circumferential compression when inserted within the shell, so that the ring presses against and continuously contacts the inner surface of the shell due to its inherent tendency to expand. a

3. The combination set forth in claim 1, including means for exerting pressure against the ring from within the ring to cause circumferential expansion thereof and insure continuous contact between ring and shell after the ring has expanded sufficiently to relieve the circumferential pre-compression.

GEORG V. HANFFSTENGEL. 

